Professor
Matthew Lieberman
1 of 3
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Great class, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons I will take on hopefully for a lifetime. Tbh I don't show up to a single lecture, I just watched the podcasts and took good notes and what he said (basically I wrote down anything that wasn't directly written on the slides). You have to go to discussion tho cuz it's worth 20% of your grade, and most of those points are for just showing up and participating. The assignments are super easy, you just write a few things you learned from the weekly reading. The bulk of this class is going to be based on your exam score, so you have to be a decent test taker to do well in this class. The great thing about this class is there's no text, all the lecture material you need to know is going to be on the slides, and what he says in lecture of course. There are a couple questions on the readings, but there are study guides that come out so you know exactly what you're gonna be tested on for the discussions. I never actually read all of the required reading, I read some of it and then I would look at what the study guide said and read the material related to that, along w/ the discussion notes. Honestly, I felt like I sort of lucked out sometimes w/ the exams cuz there were some questions that were tricky and brought me to a 50/50. You have a good number of those "Not A, but B and C" type of choices, so you really have to know the lecture material to a deep level. If you wanna get an A in this class, I would give yourself at least several days before the exam to just absorb all the lecture material... do not think you can ace the exams studying the night before, cuz there are going to be some questions that make you think, and there are only like 44 questions so you can only get a couple wrong if you want an A. Also, you can get 1.5 points of extra credit by participating in SONA
Fall 2019 - Great class, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons I will take on hopefully for a lifetime. Tbh I don't show up to a single lecture, I just watched the podcasts and took good notes and what he said (basically I wrote down anything that wasn't directly written on the slides). You have to go to discussion tho cuz it's worth 20% of your grade, and most of those points are for just showing up and participating. The assignments are super easy, you just write a few things you learned from the weekly reading. The bulk of this class is going to be based on your exam score, so you have to be a decent test taker to do well in this class. The great thing about this class is there's no text, all the lecture material you need to know is going to be on the slides, and what he says in lecture of course. There are a couple questions on the readings, but there are study guides that come out so you know exactly what you're gonna be tested on for the discussions. I never actually read all of the required reading, I read some of it and then I would look at what the study guide said and read the material related to that, along w/ the discussion notes. Honestly, I felt like I sort of lucked out sometimes w/ the exams cuz there were some questions that were tricky and brought me to a 50/50. You have a good number of those "Not A, but B and C" type of choices, so you really have to know the lecture material to a deep level. If you wanna get an A in this class, I would give yourself at least several days before the exam to just absorb all the lecture material... do not think you can ace the exams studying the night before, cuz there are going to be some questions that make you think, and there are only like 44 questions so you can only get a couple wrong if you want an A. Also, you can get 1.5 points of extra credit by participating in SONA
Most Helpful Review
COURSE TAKEN: Psych 137G - Social Cognitive Neuroscience Overall really great class. Lieberman basically invented this area of psychological research this is first time a class like this has been taught to undergraduates anywhere in the country. So taking this class is a really unique opportunity for an UCLA undergrad. Difficulty: as a graduating senior psychology major, this was one of the easier psychology upper divisions I have taken. Don’t be scared by the name of the class. Although neuroscience can be very complicated Pr. Lieberman makes it very manageable. If you just attend lectures you’ll be good, the readings are more supplemental and closely match the lectures. Content: this is really cool subfield that uses neuroscience tools to answer social psychology questions. (It leans more towards social psychology than neuroscience.) As a senior it also offered me a unique perspective on psychology different from other psych classes I’ve taken. Teaching style: Lieberman is a great lecturer. He’s well spoken and fun to listen to. I received an A in the class.
COURSE TAKEN: Psych 137G - Social Cognitive Neuroscience Overall really great class. Lieberman basically invented this area of psychological research this is first time a class like this has been taught to undergraduates anywhere in the country. So taking this class is a really unique opportunity for an UCLA undergrad. Difficulty: as a graduating senior psychology major, this was one of the easier psychology upper divisions I have taken. Don’t be scared by the name of the class. Although neuroscience can be very complicated Pr. Lieberman makes it very manageable. If you just attend lectures you’ll be good, the readings are more supplemental and closely match the lectures. Content: this is really cool subfield that uses neuroscience tools to answer social psychology questions. (It leans more towards social psychology than neuroscience.) As a senior it also offered me a unique perspective on psychology different from other psych classes I’ve taken. Teaching style: Lieberman is a great lecturer. He’s well spoken and fun to listen to. I received an A in the class.
Most Helpful Review
137G Just took the final, and it was hard as fuck. Basically, this guy just goes over 100 studies over the course of a quarter and tests you on the specifics of each study when they all sound the same. I wouldn't recommend this class since there are easier upper division classes out there. Yeah 2 tests (midterm and final) with each worth 50 percent of your grade, midterm had 45 questions and final had 47 questions, class uncurved. And every single fucking question was like a paragraph long with answer choices that sound similar to make sure you know the study by heart. He's funny, but don't expect a good grade.
137G Just took the final, and it was hard as fuck. Basically, this guy just goes over 100 studies over the course of a quarter and tests you on the specifics of each study when they all sound the same. I wouldn't recommend this class since there are easier upper division classes out there. Yeah 2 tests (midterm and final) with each worth 50 percent of your grade, midterm had 45 questions and final had 47 questions, class uncurved. And every single fucking question was like a paragraph long with answer choices that sound similar to make sure you know the study by heart. He's funny, but don't expect a good grade.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Class taken: ***PSYCH 137G*** I found this class to be very interesting. I came in with a fear of neuroscience, but this class has actually made me interested in it. The topic of social cognitive neuroscience is very innovative and Prof. Lieberman is one of the people who helped develop it. Therefore, he is not only very passionate about this topic, but is also extremely knowledgeable. I also really enjoyed his book (and so will you). His midterm and final are about 45 multiple choice questions (50% of your grade each) and both exams are held in class (the final is not cumulative). Additionally, he offers 1.5% extra credit through 3 studies. One thing that I didn't like about this class is that his slides are not very descriptive. There will be pictures of studies but if you are to study them on your own you will not know what the study is showing unless you have a perfect memory from class or listen to the podcasts. He posts slides after the lecture, so you cannot take notes on them, but even if you were to take notes on them you wouldn't be able to write down everything because there is A LOT of information and by the time you write down one thing you will miss another. If you read the book, however, this shouldn't be a problem because he follows it pretty closely (he wrote it).
Class taken: ***PSYCH 137G*** I found this class to be very interesting. I came in with a fear of neuroscience, but this class has actually made me interested in it. The topic of social cognitive neuroscience is very innovative and Prof. Lieberman is one of the people who helped develop it. Therefore, he is not only very passionate about this topic, but is also extremely knowledgeable. I also really enjoyed his book (and so will you). His midterm and final are about 45 multiple choice questions (50% of your grade each) and both exams are held in class (the final is not cumulative). Additionally, he offers 1.5% extra credit through 3 studies. One thing that I didn't like about this class is that his slides are not very descriptive. There will be pictures of studies but if you are to study them on your own you will not know what the study is showing unless you have a perfect memory from class or listen to the podcasts. He posts slides after the lecture, so you cannot take notes on them, but even if you were to take notes on them you wouldn't be able to write down everything because there is A LOT of information and by the time you write down one thing you will miss another. If you read the book, however, this shouldn't be a problem because he follows it pretty closely (he wrote it).
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - The content of the class is really interesting imo. The only criticism I have is that the lectures had so much information there's barely a moment to breath. The lecture slides themselves are not very informative so if you didn't catch something he said, you'd have to rewatch the lecture. He also packed so much content into one class period we often ran out of time and had to push it into the next lecture. That being said, the content was interesting enough for me to actually care to pay attention. His lectures are structured by introducing an idea, sharing a bunch of studies that researched the idea, and then presenting the final findings and conclusions of all the studies (with a lot of them being done by him or his colleagues lol). Maybe it's just me, but this made it a little hard to keep track of what information was important. Because of this, I recommend not studying the exact process of each study, but focusing on the conclusions and how it contributed to the overall "idea" presented at the beginning. I got a B on the midterm but 100% on the final by changing how I was studying. The reading also isn't technically required, and I typically never do the readings for my classes, but I found it to be really helpful as it solidified by understanding of the topics (esp bc I spaced out a lot in lecture). He also offers a lot of EC (3.5% for attending at least 70% of content lectures and another 1.5% (?) for participating SONA studies (3 credits max)). I think he also mentioned that he curves your grade if you're close to an A. The midterm and final (not cumulative) are both worth 40%, and then the final 20% is a one-spaced paper about how any of the topics taught changed your perspective on the social world or something, but tbh as long as you put in basic effort and submit something you're guaranteed 100% on that. Overall, the class did require some brain power and I actually had to lock in during lecture, but I def think it's very doable. I really did enjoy this class and would love to take another class with prof lieberman in the future !
Winter 2025 - The content of the class is really interesting imo. The only criticism I have is that the lectures had so much information there's barely a moment to breath. The lecture slides themselves are not very informative so if you didn't catch something he said, you'd have to rewatch the lecture. He also packed so much content into one class period we often ran out of time and had to push it into the next lecture. That being said, the content was interesting enough for me to actually care to pay attention. His lectures are structured by introducing an idea, sharing a bunch of studies that researched the idea, and then presenting the final findings and conclusions of all the studies (with a lot of them being done by him or his colleagues lol). Maybe it's just me, but this made it a little hard to keep track of what information was important. Because of this, I recommend not studying the exact process of each study, but focusing on the conclusions and how it contributed to the overall "idea" presented at the beginning. I got a B on the midterm but 100% on the final by changing how I was studying. The reading also isn't technically required, and I typically never do the readings for my classes, but I found it to be really helpful as it solidified by understanding of the topics (esp bc I spaced out a lot in lecture). He also offers a lot of EC (3.5% for attending at least 70% of content lectures and another 1.5% (?) for participating SONA studies (3 credits max)). I think he also mentioned that he curves your grade if you're close to an A. The midterm and final (not cumulative) are both worth 40%, and then the final 20% is a one-spaced paper about how any of the topics taught changed your perspective on the social world or something, but tbh as long as you put in basic effort and submit something you're guaranteed 100% on that. Overall, the class did require some brain power and I actually had to lock in during lecture, but I def think it's very doable. I really did enjoy this class and would love to take another class with prof lieberman in the future !
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Honestly I thought this class was not bad at all in terms of difficulty. The course is composed of two exams each worth 40% (non-cumulative) and a final paper worth 20%. The paper is basically guaranteed full credit as long as you put in some effort. As for the exams, when I left the first one I did not feel good about it at all but I ended up doing much better than I thought I did (37/40). I think a lot of this had to due with my lack of prep and studying (all I did was cram all the lectures up until the exam) but the reason I think I did well was because I attended all his lectures in-person. His lecturing style makes it easy to pay attention and stay engaged, so when I took the exam I was able to make pretty educated guesses and recall some of the things he said during lecture. As far as the second exam, my preparation was pretty much the same. I attended all the in-person lectures and tried my best to stay engaged (sitting in the front helps) then when it came to studying I just crammed listening to the lectures again to refresh my mind. I ended up getting a 39/40 but I also just believe he made the second exam way easier than the first. Overall I actually really enjoyed the class and found the material interesting, it helps that he literally helped start the social cognitive neuroscience field so he knows his stuff and is very passionate about this course in particular. The best advice I can give is to attend in-person lectures, I am a pretty average student but still managed to do well in this class mainly because of my attendance.
Fall 2024 - Honestly I thought this class was not bad at all in terms of difficulty. The course is composed of two exams each worth 40% (non-cumulative) and a final paper worth 20%. The paper is basically guaranteed full credit as long as you put in some effort. As for the exams, when I left the first one I did not feel good about it at all but I ended up doing much better than I thought I did (37/40). I think a lot of this had to due with my lack of prep and studying (all I did was cram all the lectures up until the exam) but the reason I think I did well was because I attended all his lectures in-person. His lecturing style makes it easy to pay attention and stay engaged, so when I took the exam I was able to make pretty educated guesses and recall some of the things he said during lecture. As far as the second exam, my preparation was pretty much the same. I attended all the in-person lectures and tried my best to stay engaged (sitting in the front helps) then when it came to studying I just crammed listening to the lectures again to refresh my mind. I ended up getting a 39/40 but I also just believe he made the second exam way easier than the first. Overall I actually really enjoyed the class and found the material interesting, it helps that he literally helped start the social cognitive neuroscience field so he knows his stuff and is very passionate about this course in particular. The best advice I can give is to attend in-person lectures, I am a pretty average student but still managed to do well in this class mainly because of my attendance.
AD
1 of 3
